


ghosts abound as we fall to the ground

by AgentVilardo (TheWarehouseLikesYou), punkrockbadger



Series: don't you dare be my baby [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-29
Updated: 2014-05-29
Packaged: 2018-01-27 02:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1711637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWarehouseLikesYou/pseuds/AgentVilardo, https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkrockbadger/pseuds/punkrockbadger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He nodded. "You'll... come, yeah? To the funeral?"</p><p>"Of course I will. I'll be there." She reached for his hand again to give it a squeeze. "You won't have to do it alone. You know that."</p>
            </blockquote>





	ghosts abound as we fall to the ground

Emmeline tripped over her Quidditch robes on her way out the door, knocking her broom against virtually everything on the way down the stairs. "Bloody broom, bloody practice. Why on this earth would he want to have practice this early. Doesn't he know we're tir-"

She was suddenly sprawled out on the floor, broom skidding across the stones in the common room. Pain radiated from her leg and face. "What the bloody hell!" she groaned, rolling over.

"Uhn..." James Potter slowly sat up, wondering what in the hell had happened, before noticing Emmeline sprawled out on the floor before him. "Emmi! Whoa!"

"Jim, what the hell, mate?" she sat up, wincing at the pain in her ankle. "What are you doing down here? Did you sleep here? What are you crazy?"

"...Guess so, yeah." He didn't seem fazed by this at all, but instead stood up and brushed his Quidditch robes off like that was not out of the ordinary. "Sorry. Must have been a shock, running into me like that."

"Well, I wasn't quite awake, but I think I am now. Help me up." She held out her hand, blinking at him.

"Sure." He easily helped her up. "So, they tell you anything about practice plans?" He was unusually forward, his eyes lacking their usual glint of mischief, but he seemed to be either too tired to care or hoping she would ignore it.

She, of course, noticed he wasn't being himself. She blinked at him for a moment, trying to get him to look at her. "Yeah, it’s just...basic formations and strategy. Hey, are you alright, Jim?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Doin' alright. Let's get to the pitch. Wouldn't want to be late."

"James, what's wrong?" She said firmly, linking her arm with his.

"Nothing." He growled. "Don't ask or I'll break fingers or something."

She tightened her grip on James' arm. "Jim...please tell me?"

"Mum." He resolutely stared at the wall, avoiding her gaze while he pulled his arm out of her grasp. "She's... better now."

She let him go. 

"James, did she... Oh, James, I'm so..." she pressed her lips together, reaching out to touch him softly. “James? Are you going to be alright? We can skip practice? Go for a walk?"

"We're going to practice." He nodded. "Can't let the team down 'cause something happened or anything, yeah?"

She nodded silently, then fell into step beside him. "You're right. Can't let the team down. Flying will help you, too."

"Yeah." He nodded, shyly reaching out for her hand. "It will."

She laced her fingers with his and gave his hand a squeeze. "We can drive the Captain crazy, yeah?"

"Yeah." He nodded, leaning over to casually rest his head on her shoulder. "Drive him up a wall."

"Hey, Emmi?" He spoke up, on their way to the pitch. "Where do you think people go? When they... uh..."

She paused. 

"Um...I dunno. I mean, I like to think that their spirits go to a place where they're with everyone else that we've lost along the way. You know? Like, that they can find their old friends and loved ones in some sort of...big...place. And they're together, and happy. That is, unless their souls come back as ghosts. But I don't think your mother will...I'm sorry." She cut herself off. Squeezing his hand again, she nuzzled her cheek against his crazy hair.

"Yeah. Dad said ghosts only come back if they've got beef with someone, and Mum... She was never the type." He sighed. "I'm worried about him. He's getting up there too, y'know. Losing Mum's obviously hard on him."

She nodded silently. "I...yeah. Well...you know that if anything happens, we're here for you."

"I know. Came to you, didn't I?" He grinned weakly. "Granted, falling asleep ‘cause I didn't want to turn the stair alarm on wasn't the smartest, but..."

She nodded. 

"You should have at least slept in a chair." She thought about what he said and smiled weakly. "You did come to me. Yeah. That's good."

"Everybody probably thought I came up there to creep on Evans." He shook his head. "Nah. Not in the mood."

She laughed shortly, wiggling her hands. "I don't believe that. You wouldn't pass up the opportunity f it was given to you."

"Dunno." He shrugged. "Not feeling it today."

She paused in her stride, then started again, still holding James' hand. She didn't know what to say. "Maybe....maybe we can hang on the lawns later?"

"Sounds alright." He nodded. "Good thing we only have one exam left, yeah? Would have failed hard if she hadn't timed it this well. Goddamn Mum, caring too much about my education until the end."

She nudged him with her shoulder. "She really loves you. She wouldn't have wanted you to be this sad."

"Yeah. Mum was way old, as it was." He nodded, trying to make light of the situation. "Good thing the elves are still around. Dad would burn the house down cooking."

She had to smile at the thought of Mr Potter cooking. "You're right. That would be horrible."

"He'd be way too cheerful about it too, Dad." James rubbed at his eyes. "Probably invite your family over to have a look and laugh at the mess. Make some sort of life lesson out of it. 'You see, Jamie, that's why men don't ever touch the food in our house. Too much trouble!'" He shook a finger in front of his face as if he were telling off Emmi, imperiously holding his head a little higher than it needed to be.

She laughed again. "Must be why you stink at cooking too," she teased, jostling his arm a little.

"Hey, I'm better than you give me credit for." He wrinkled his nose. "Don't test me."

She arched an eyebrow. "I seem to remember some of your failed creations when we were kids. One of them was smoking."

"I'm not tiny Jim anymore, Emmi." He chuckled. "Mum noticed the smoking one and figured she might as well teach me to handle my own food for when I move out. Her lessons consisted of cook it and eat it, no matter what it looks like. I've had to eat some crap, in the day. Definitely taught me the lesson. Not literal crap. You get what I mean."

She laughed. "Well it's good she taught you. She was a good cook. Maybe you can make me something over holiday."

"Maybe I'll try and poison you. She didn't stop at cooking, you know." He grinned.

"Oh I'd believe that too. She was good at potions." She shifted her broom in her hand. Her mother wasn't good at much except charms.

"Scary good. I'm so failing potions next school year." He sighed. "Goodbye Aurorship, hello paperwork."

She clicked her tongue. "Oh, if you think that way, you're gonna go downhill. Just study harder!"

"You're good at potions." He brightened up, noticing that they were nearly at the Quidditch pitch. "And you owe me one, if I'm making you dinner."

She opened her mouth, smiling now. "Owe you? You loser, you know I'd help you with potions anyway.”

"Yeah, you would." He stopped to pose melodramatically, flipping his hair, which had grown entirely too far out. McGonagall, or likely Emmi, would likely come after him with scissors soon.

She rolled her eyes with an exaggerated sigh. 

"You're such a geek." she scoffed, pushing her own hair back.

"But you love me." He chuckled, nudging her with his elbow as they reached the entrance to the pitch. "I'm your little Jimmy."

"Unfortunately, yeah, I do," she hip bumped him, then wrapped an arm around his neck to ruffle his already crazy hair. "What would you do without me?"

"Probably lust theatrically after Evans and cry alone." He shrugged. "Or on Sirius' shoulder. Neither one being the good option."

"Sirius would punch you and you know it," She scoffed. She looked back at the ground. "He's not really the type, is he?"

"Yeah, probably." James shrugged. "Not too hard, though. I'm quite endearing when I want to be. Many call it pathetic groveling, but it's perfectly alright when you've got a murderous Black on your tail after you used his soap by accident. The type of what, Em?"

She rolled her eyes at his speech, knowing one hundred percent that he was right. Straightening back up, she fingered her pony tail. "Oh, you know. The touchy feely kind of guy. At least, not with me." She gave James a smile. "But it's not important right now."

"Oooh, Emmi's got a crush on dear old Sirius!" James' eyes lit up with excitement. "Wait until I tell him! He'll have it on banners all around the school by morning!"

She lunged at her friend, raising a hand to smack him. "You tell him and I'll jinx you!" she hollered, trying not to trip on her broom.

"EMMELINE VANCE IS IN LOVE!" James shouted, skipping a few feet before easily getting bowled over by Emmi. "WITH--WITH--"

She chucked her broom to the side to tackle him to the ground, clapping a hand to his mouth. "JAMES POTTER, I WILL JELLY LEGS JINX YOU RIGHT NOW! I SWEAR TO MERLIN!"

"EM--" He tried his best to force her hand back from his mouth. "I PROMISE--"

"PROMISE YOU WON"T TELL!" She shouted, sitting on his back

"Fine! I, James Potter, promise that I WON'T TELL THE WORLD EMMI'S INTO SIRIUS."

She squealed, then, instead of reaching into her robes for her wand, elected to punch him between the shoulder blades as hard as she could. "IM GOING TO KILL YOU, JAMES!"

He wheezed, flapping his arms to try and get free.

She rolled off him, then grabbed her broom and stood. "Come on, then. Practice starts in five minutes."

"Yes, mother." He rolled his eyes, trooping after her into the pitch. He'd get hell from multiple people if he were late, and besides, he had a little investigating to do.

She grinned, stopping to wait for him. Falling into step beside him once again, she cleared her throat. "You feelin’ any better?"

"Way." He nodded, growing somber in an instant. "You'll... come, yeah? To the funeral?"

"Of course I will. I'll be there." She reached for his hand again to give it a squeeze. "You won't have to do it alone. You know that."

"Yeah. I've got your back too, you know that." He squeezed her hand back.

"Of course I do." She gave him a wide smile, then nodded towards the pitch. "Alright we gotta get a move on. Captain will jinx our brooms if we're late." She started to pull him forward. "Do, uh, do Sirius and Remus and Peter know?"

"About?" He frowned, thinking she was referring to her blatantly obvious crush on Sirius before realizing she meant his other. "Uh, no."

She nodded slowly. "When are you going to tell them? Or I mean, are you?"

"I, uh... Would you help?" He tapped his thigh nervously. "I don't know what to say, really. Just stroll into the bedroom and be like 'Hey, mates, mum's dead. Just for reference.'"

"Of course I will. Anything you need, Jim."

"Yeah." He elbowed her again. "Captain wants us in the air. Lunch date?"

She smiled as she mounted her broom. "Of course." 

She kicked off then hovered to wait for James before climbing higher to where the rest of the team was.

James mounted his own broom, flying over to the two other Chasers before sending a wave Emmi’s way. 

God knows she deserved it, after all of the trouble he put her through.


End file.
